Photo of Adam Lanza taken when he was a middle school student at St. Rose Catholic School in Newtown, Connecticut. MCT

The anxious calls and emails started pouring in hours after reporters began circulating that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooter was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome.

People with this mild form of autism contacted the national Autistic Advocacy Network confiding they were afraid to go back to work or school, or get on a plane, said the network’s co-founder and East Brunswick native Ari Ne’eman, who also has Asperger’s. Some have gotten questions from neighbors or colleagues that make them uncomfortable.

"It’s been a tough 48 hours. We have been getting calls and emails — people are afraid," Ne’eman said. "Our members are hearing in the media that ‘people like you are dangerous and lack empathy.’ We know it is only a matter of time before people start looking for someone to blame."

Disability advocates and medical professionals today struggled to get the message out — that people with autism are not prone to violence. But they also provided a sounding board for families and people living with the neurological disorder who fear rejection or retaliation.

The concern is especially acute in New Jersey, which has the nation’s second-highest autism rate.

"Clearly the importance of the tragedy far outweighs the concern that people will stereotype," said Suzanne Buchanan, a psychologist and the interim executive director for Autism New Jersey, a family advocacy group. "But people should know individuals with autism and Asperger’s have no higher incidence of violence than the general population."

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects communication and learning and is characterized by repetitive behavior. People with Asperger’s possess better speaking skills and a higher IQ. In controversial changes approved for the psychiatric diagnostic manual earlier this month, Asperger’s will be eliminated and included as part of "autism spectrum disorder."

Little is known about 20-year-old Adam Lanza, identified by police as the shooter in the Friday massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school. He fatally shot his mother at home before going to the school and killing 20 young children, six adults and himself, authorities said. A law enforcement source and family friends have said he was diagnosed with Asperger’s.

High school classmates and others have described Lanza as bright but painfully shy, anxious and a loner — symptoms consistent with Asperger’s, said psychologist Eric Butter of Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, who treats autism but has no knowledge of Lanza’s case.

Research suggests people with autism do have a higher rate of aggressive behavior — outbursts, shoving or pushing or angry shouting — than the general population, he said. "But we are not talking about the kind of planned and intentional type of violence we have seen at Newtown," Butter said. "These types of tragedies have occurred at the hands of individuals with many different types of personalities and psychological profiles."

Elizabeth Laugeson, an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said people with Asperger’s tend to be very law-abiding. "There’s something more to this," she said. "We just don’t know what that is yet."

Buchanan said some people with Asperger’s also have a mental health diagnosis. These "dually-diagnosed" people often "fall through the cracks" of the mental health system, but they can respond to treatment, she said. "As a society we need to band together and refer them to treatment so these tragedies do not occur."